MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2882, 16 June 1909, Page 67

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— Last year 230 malicious calls were received by the London ilethopolitan. Fire Brigade. — f1.8.H. the Prince of Wales received £82,500 from, the Duchy of Cornwall laet year. — Swiss watchmakers have lost, owing to foreign competition, 50 per cent, of the ■work they had to do in days gone by. — European nations which have great congested cities show a decline in individual height. — Recently, at the Lambeth County Court, London, a creditor said: "He is a very difficult man to catch,, so I invited Ihim to lunoh, and served him with the summons then J" — According to the last recorded figures given, the annual amount spent on military aviation was — Germany, £155,751; France, £47,000; Great Britain, £19,000; and Austria, £5500. —It is estimated that 300,000,000 cigarettes are consumed every month in England. - ' — Drawn by a team of dogs, an Alaskan settler recently travelled 412 miles in iour days. —In the arts faculties of the Scottish "Universities 46 per cent, of the total number of students are women. —In 1908 London boroughs dealt with one million long " of .refuse at., an average cost of 9s Id a ton: _ , — Urbain -Deesessart, of Paris, although blind since' childhood, ha 6 saved four persons from drowning. —It is said that tHe number of microorganisms .in .schoolroom dust is , between 50 to' 80 million per ounce. — Frank Clark, "the king of tramps," is making his seventh tour round the world. .He started in 1883, and has covered over "250,000 miles. ' . -. —It has been decided by the association of St. Petersburg lawyers that if a member of the profession takes part in a' game of chance at a club he shall be punished.. —On the tute railways between New York and New Jersey the last car on each tra-iu is reserved for women arid children, because of the roughnes? of the crowd during busy hours. — Ihjxing a performance in a Copenhagen theatre a monkey suddenly sprang off the stage into the arms of s man in th<- audience. This^ man, four years before, had been the monkey's master. — The village of dbrby, in Northamptonshire, has a famous fair which takes place every 20 years, known as "Toll Fair. Should a stranger happen to pass through Corby when the date conies round he ts liable to be captured and carried on a polo to the stocks. He can, however, purchase his liberty by handing over" any coin, he happens to have about him. This custom commemorates a charter granted to Corby by Queen Elizabeth,- and afterwards confirmed 'by Charles 11, by which the residents are exempt from all market tolls or jury service. ,j_Xhe German Empress, though somewhat overshadowed, the world thinks, by) the Kaiser, is a woman of very real Influence in her own circle,, and is' simply worshipped by her husband and children. The' love her eons bear her is well Illustrated by a story told of the Orown Prince in his boyhood. The Court chaplain was one day giving the Prince religious instruction and trying to impress upon- him. that all people are sinners. "Well," blurted, out his Imperial Highness, "father may be a sinner, ac you say, but I'm quite sure mother isn't." - — The diameter of the Atlantic cable varies according to the depth of the water, the character of the bottom on which it lies, and the probabilities of interference from anchors. It is smallest in mid-ocean depths. There is little or no movement at the bottom, and it is important that the cable should not have great weight. A heavy cable in deep water would be difficult to bring up for repairs if such were needed. In the shallower water a heavier type of cable is used. The types are known as "shore end," "intermediate," and "deep sea." The diameters of/ the commercial cables are : Shore end, 2Jin ; . intermediate. If in ; deep sea, lin. — The first lifeboat is still in existence at Hedcar, in Yorkshire. This boat was placed at Redcar 7h the year 1802, to be used as a boat "for saving life in storms or other dangers to ships" coming into or near the mouth of the Tees. It was built by a shipwright of the neighbouring port of Sunderland from plans of his own invention, and' - Parliament considered his work so meritorious and -advantageous that it voted him a- sum, of £1200 as a reward for his time, trouble, and ingenuity. This fine old boat did excellent service for over 70 years, and then, owing to tho introduction of newei types and better boats, it was placed upon the "retired list" and transleired -to tb-e sKed where it now is. — There is surprise and consternation reigning in Stockholm. The othei day there .was a State, ball given by the-Kiner at Stockholm Castle, and the ladies all appeared in powdered hair and che gentlemen in coloured" dress-coats. WUth the democratic freedom of discussion which reigns over there, the morning papers launched a protest against this "unheai"d-of gorgeousness." The wearing of coloured drees-coats, they say, has made a most unpleasant impression _upon the less welt-to-do classes. Dress-coats, if worn at all, should at least be black. Coloured dreEScoats are the invention of the Evil One. Both leaders of Parliament, they go m, are much disturbed fay the King donning bo gorgeous a garment, and questions to Ministers on t.ha subject are expected. Evidently Toyalty has to be careful what it wears in Sweden. — A writer in a Transvaal papar tells of a Boer who resolved to take a rise out of the Agricultural Department. Having to Bend in a "blood-smear" of a dead ox ho subtly prepared a second with his own gore, and told nis neighbours of- the fool he was making of the Vingevcorde Engelschman" — imported Englishman— and his newfangled regulations. Some weeks later, when the long envelope brought, the omcial report, he called to his neighbours to rejoice with him over the jest, and the schoolmaster was pressed to interpret the preoious report, which ran eomewhnt as follows:— ''To Johannes Hendrik Petnrs Boonzaier, Esq., Vlakvarkfontein. — Sir, — With reference to the blood-smears furnished by you on the 15th ult.. I have the honour to inform you that the one — that of an ox — shows no trace of disease. The blood on the other side appears to be that of a baboon in an- advanced stage of senile — I have," etOt

— There are in France three societies for the encouragement of aerial navigation, , and over £60,000 in prizes will be open to f competition in the course of the year. — The ability to read backward what has been impressed on a blotting pad and the secrets which the latter will yield when reflected in a mirror are dangers against which the Foreign Office has its precaution. For a time black blotting paper was specially manufactured and used. But it was found not to be absolutely markproof, so that absorbent rollers were introduced for blotting 1 diolomatic documents. When such a roller has been run. over letters sideways and up and down a few times, to deciphei its impressions would defy even Sherlock Holmes.